Apparatus for packaging tubular articles

ABSTRACT

A device for sorting and packing round-bar-shaped or tubular articles and, more particularly, cigarette tubes or cigarette filter tubes. The device comprises a funnel-shaped container the downwardly tapering portion of which terminates in a chute having a bottom, side walls and a front wall, the front wall being designed as an ejector and the rear wall having an ejector orifice; a cut-off slide, or a plurality of cut-off slides arranged in pairs, and disposed between the container and the chute which serves as a batching chamber; and a belt which rests flatly on the bottom of the chute at right angles to the longitudinal axes of articles in the chute and/or on the inner surfaces of the side walls of the chute. The belt is adapted to be reciprocated or gradually moved by means of an external drive mechanism. The belt may be arranged with one end thereof outside the chute and attached to a fixed support such as the frame of the device and with its other end resiliently connected to a motion-imparting device adapted to impart a motion to the belt in the longitudinal direction thereof. With this device the articles being processed are closely packed and suitably batched without damage thereto and with a constant number of articles being ejected for each ejection stroke.

United States Patent 1 1 Brodbeck Feb. 5, 1974 APPARATUS FOR PACKAGINGTUBULAR ARTICLES l-lelmut Brodbeck, Trossingen, Germany Assignee:EFKA-Werke Fritz Kiehn GmbH,

Trossingen/Wurtt, Germany Filed: Sept. 18, 1972 Appl. No.2 290,066

Inventor:

Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 30, 1971 Germany P 21 48 870.0

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1923 Ekstrom et a1. 53/149 X10/1925 Rose 221/200 11/1956 221/251 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS1/1957 Germany 221/200 Schuler 221/200 X Primary Examiner-Stanley l-I.Tollberg Assistant Examiner-Joseph J. Rolla Attorney, Agent, orFirm-Murray Schaffer [57] ABSTRACT A device for sorting and packinground-bar-shaped or tubular articles and, more particularly, cigarettetubes or cigarette filter tubes. The device comprises a funnel-shapedcontainer the downwardly tapering portion of which terminates in a chutehaving a bottom, side walls and a front wall, the front wall beingdesigned as an ejector and the rear wall having an ejector orifice; acut-off slide, or a plurality of cut-off slides arranged in pairs, anddisposed between the container and the chute which serves as a batchingchamber; and a belt which rests flatly on the bottom of the chute atright angles to the longitudinal axes of articles in the chute and/or onthe inner surfaces of the side walls of the chute. The belt is adaptedto be reciprocated or gradually moved by means of an external drivemechanism. The belt may be arranged with one end thereof outside thechute and attached to a fixed support such as the frame of the deviceand with its other end resiliently connected to a motion-impartingdevice adapted to impart a motion to the belt in the longitudinaldirection thereof. With this device the articles being processed areclosely packed and suitably batched without damage thereto and with aconstant number of articles being ejected for each ejection stroke.

13 ei 1 3, e n surs APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING TUBULAR ARTICLES Theinvention relates to a device for sorting and packing round-bar-shapedor tubular articles, especially cigarette tubes or cigarette filtertubes.

It is an object of the invention to create a device for sorting andpacking cigarette tubes or cigarette filter tubes by means of which asubstantial increase in the number of tubes ejected per unit of time canbe obtained without damaging the sensitive tubes and the number of tubesejected per ejection stroke is constant.

In accordance with the foregoing and other objects the present inventioncontemplates the provision of a device comprising a funnel-shapedcontainer, the downwardly tapering portion of which terminates in achute bounded by a bottom, the front wall of said chute being designedas an ejector and the rear wall having an ejector orifice and onecut-off slide or several cutoff slides arranged in pairs between thecontainer and the chute, which serves as a batching chamber.

A belt rests flatly on the bottom of the chute at right angles to thetubes in the chute and/or on the inner surfaces of the side walls of thechute and the belt is reciprocated or gradually moved by means of anexternal drive.

According to a further aspect of the invention the belt is arranged withone end thereof outside the chute and attached to the frame of thedevice by means of a tension spring element and with its other endconnected to a motion-imparting device adapted to act in thelongitudinal direction of the belt.

Because of the resulting reciprocating motion of the belt, by means ofwhich the tubes are moved not only laterally but additionally also abouttheir axes, the individual tubes adjoin one another as closely aspossible and are positioned so as to fill any gaps.

The invention thus ensures that upon dividing the tubes by the cut-offslide any tubes which are obliquely shifted in the container do not dropinto the chute in this inclined position in which position they wouldtake up so much space that the number of tubes dropping into the chutethereafter would not correspond to what would completely fill the chute.Moreover, any tubes disposed in an inclined position can interfere withthe working cycle during the ejecting operation. 4

A further difficulty encountered heretofore with the prior art devicesis that upon withdrawing thecut-off slide the tubes dropping into thechute first at one end of the chute roll to the other end of the chuteuntil after the cut-off slide is completely withdrawn at which time thetubes drop down at said other end. As a result of this the tubes arevery loosely packed and are not accurately positioned in the batchingchamber. This disadvantage has not been overcome heretofore even bymeans of vibrators arranged on the side wall of the chute. However, inthe device according to the invention this drawback is no longerencountered.

The device according to the present invention can be simplified if,instead of the non-extensible belt, there is used a belt which iselastically extensible in its longitudinal direction and which actsdirectly on the frame of the device with its one end and is connected atits other end to a motion-imparting device adapted to impart areciprocating motion to the belt.

The motion-imparting device can be in the form of a mechanicalcrank gearcoupled with the drive of the machine. However, it is also possible touse an electromagnetically driven vibrator as the motion-impartingdevice.

The width of the belt can vary. In the case of filterless tubes it isexpedient to adapt the width of the belt to the length of the tubes inorder to avoid damage to the sensitive tubes. In the case of filtertubes it is preferable to adjust the width of the belt to the length ofone filter and to arrange the belt in the region of the filters.However, it is also conceivable to design the belt as a narrow strip andto arrange it approximately in the mid region of the tubes.

In a further aspect of the present invention a further problemencountered heretofore is solved in that above the chute, in the regionof the tube ends, there is provided a slot nozzle for blowing air on tothe tubes ready for ejection. The slot nozzle is inclined downward andextends over the width of the chute. The. air blast is directed on tothe tube ends before the tubes are separated from one another by meansof a cutting knife and while the tubes in the batching chamber areejected by means of an ejector slide into a waiting container. In thismanner the position of the individual tubes is stabilized and the tubesare prevented from shifting to an inclined position. While thetubes aredropping from the funnel-shaped container into the batching chamber theair blast is interrupted.

Instead of a single slot nozzle a plurality of nozzles disposed adjacentone another may be provided.

The features and aspects of the invention will be described hereinafterand referred to in the appended claims.

The invention will be more particularly described hereafter withreference to a practical embodiment shown, by way of example, in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section of one embodiment of a device according tothis invention:

FIG. 2 is a view, partly in section, taken along the line II-II of FIG.1; and

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of the device in FIG. 1 whichshows the separation of the tubes in the batching chamber from thecontainer.

Referring to the drawings a funnel-shaped drawingoff container 11 forthe cigarette tubes is designed as a replaceable magazine for the tubes(not shown in detail in the drawings) while its lower, smallerorificecan be detachably connected to a chute 13. The width of the container 11and that of the chute l3 correspond to the length of one tube. Anejector for the tubes is disposed in the front wall 15 of the chute 13in the lower region of said wall. The ejector 17 is movable on a rod 16in the longitudinal direction of the tubes. I

A sheet cover 18, which-has approximately the size of the cross sectionof the chute, is so arranged on the.

upper edge of the ejector 17' that it is opposed to the direction ofejection. However, the length of the sheet cover 18 can also beincreased depending on the length of stroke of the ejector 17. Theheight of the upper edge of the ejector 17 is so chosen that a specificlayer 19 of the tubes 12 which are arranged and staggered in individuallayers in the chute 13, projects above it.

The ejector orifice 20 in the rear wall'2l is bounded on its upper edgeby a guide strip 22. The guide strip 22 is in the upper region of thetube layer 19 and has a butting face23 directed toward the tubes. Theguide strip 22 also is a component of a feed channel 27 for the tubes12. A packing container 28, such as a buckettype chute or thelike, forreceiving the ejected tubes is arranged behind the feed channel 27.

The lower portion of the chute 13 is closed by a bottom 32. The bottom32 is vertically adjustable and lockable by means of an adjustingmechanism 14, so that tubes of different lengths can be ejected. Theheight of the ejector 17 is then adapted to the changed position of thebottom 32 this can be done simply by changing the ejector 17.

A thin non-extensible belt 40, the two ends of which project from thechute, rests flatly on the bottom at right angles to the cigarette tubes12. One end of the belt 40 is secured to a frame 42 by means of atension spring 41. The other end of the belt 28 acts on a mechanicalcrank gear 44 by way, of a coupling 43. Moreover, angle sheet irons 45,which are laterally adjustable in the bottom 32, are provided so thatwhen widening the chute 13 the bottom surface can be increasedcorrespondingly. The outer ends of the belt 40 pass through apertures 46provided in the angle sheet irons 46.

Guides 48 are provided on the opposed side walls 47 of the chute 13.Slides 49 and 50, which are movable toward one another and whichseparate a specific number of filter tubes from the container 11, areguided in the guides 48. The width of the slides 49 and 50 only slightlyexceeds the length of a filter.

A slot nozzle 51, which is inclined with respect to the ends of thefilter tubes, is arranged above the chute 13 on the rear wall 21. Theslot nozzle 51 is adapted to direct an air blast at the filter tube endsbefore commencing the tube ejecting operation. The tubes are thusstablized in their position. A plurality of slot nozzles 51 extendingside by side over the width of the chute may be provided in order toexert an air blast against the entire line of tube.

Vibrators 26, which facilitate directing the tubes dropping from thecontainer 11 into the chute 13, to individual superjacent staggeredlayers, are secured to the side walls 43 of the chute 13.

The mode of operation of the device will now be described in moredetail.

The tubes dropping from the container 11 into the chute 13 are at firstloosely packed in the chute 13 and are not accurately positioned so asto fill gaps. However, because of the reciprocating motion of the belt40 acting on the crank gear 44 at least the lower tube layers arelaterally reciprocated and at the same time are subjected to a slightrotary motion about their own axes. The tubes in the chute are thusquickly and accurately aligned in a simple manner and an optimum volumeof tubes for filling the batching chamber is thus obtained.

The tubes in the chute are then separated from the container by means ofthe cut-off slides 49 and 50.

At first the slide 49 is partially moved between the cigarette tubes 12.Thereafter, the slide 50 is also moved between the tubes 12 from theopposite side but to such an extend that it approaches the slide 49 towithin a distance therefrom which is slightly smaller than the diameterof one tube. By way of a coupling, which is not shown and which isoutside the container 11, the slide 50 pushes the slide 49 out of thecontainer 11 until it alone covers the entire cross section of thechute. Tubes lying between the slides are pushed either into thecontainer 11 or into the chute 13. Since the slides seize the tubes onlyat their filter ends, it can happen that a tube is moved into aninclined position and even upon the subsequent filling of the chute 13this tube would remain in an inclined position in the chute and wouldthus prevent optimum filling of the chute 13. Moreover, the ejectingoperation would be obstructed by the inclined tube. However, in thedevice according to this invention the reciprocating motion of the belt40 takes care of aligning such inclined tubes in parallel with the othertubes. An optimum degree of filling in the chute is thus obtained.

The tubes in the chute are pushed by the ejector 17 by way of the feedchannel 27 into a packing container kept in readiness. In order tofacilitate this operation, the slot nozzle 51 directs an inclined airblast at the ends of the tubes 12 from above, so that the tubes can beeasily pressed downward and are stabilized in their position forejection.

During the time the tubes 12 kept on dropping from the container 11 intothe chute 13, in a correctly ori- 'ented manner the air blast isinterrupted.

When packing filterless cigarette tubes it is expedient to dispense withthe cut-off slides 49 and 50 in order to avoid damaging the sensitivefilter tubes. In this case the guide strip 22 may be replaced by a brushstrip, as a braking device for the tube layer lying above the layer 19.The sheet cover 18 on the ejector l7 prevents the tubes from droppingdown from the container 11 during the ejecting operation. Only when theejector is again in its initial position do tubes drop from thecontainer 11 into the chute 13. In this type of packing device it isexpedient either to adapt the belt 40 to the length of the filterlesscigarette tubes or to design it as a narrow belt and to so arrange it inthe mid-region of the filter tubes that it rests flatly on the bottom32.

In the device according to the invention it is thus also possible toreciprocate the belt as an endless belt or to accelerate it continuouslyand in addition gradually increase or retard its speed.

I claim:

1. A device for sorting and packing round-bar-shaped or tubulararticles, such as cigarette tubes or cigarette filter tubes comprising afunnel-shaped container having a downwardly tapering portion whichterminates in a chute having a bottom, side walls and front and rearwalls, the front wall of said chute comprising an ejector and the rearwall ofsaid chute having an ejector orifice, at least one cut-off slidearranged between the container and the chute, to selectively separatethe two, said chute serving as a batching chamber in which a pluralityof articles are arranged and to be transversely ejected, an elgongatedflatbelt located at the bottom of the chute and extending at rightangles to the axes of the tubes disposed in said chute and an externaldrive mechanism for reciprocating said belt with respect to the chutealong the longitudinal axis.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein a plurality of cut-off slidesis provided with the cut-off slides arranged in opposing pairs betweenthe container and the chute.

3. A device as claimed inclaim 1, characterized in that one end of thebelt is attached to a frame by means of a tension spring element and theother end of the belt is connected to a motion imparting device adaptedto impart reciprocating motion to the belt in the longitudinal directionof the belt.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the belt iselastically extensible, said belt connected at one end of its ends to aframe and at its other end to a device adapted to impart reciprocatingmotion to the belt in the longitudinal direction thereof.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the externaldrive mechansim comprises a mechanical crank gear and a couplingconnecting said belt and said mechanical crank gear.

6. A device as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the extremedrive mechanism comprises an electro-magnetic vibrator.

7. .A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the width ofthe belt correspondsapproximatelyto the length of a tube.

8. A device according to claim 1, characterized in that the width of thebelt corresponds to the length of the filter of a cigarette tubeand thatthe belt is disposed in the region of the tube filters on the bottom ofthe chute.

9. A device according to claim 1, characterzed in that the belt consistsof a narrow strip and is arranged approximately in the mid-region of thecigarette tubes.

10. A device especially according to claim 1, characterized in that anozzle for blowing air onto the tubes ready for ejection is providedabove the chute in the region of the tube ends, said nozzle beinginclined downward and extending over the width of the chute.

1 1. A device as claimed in claim 10, characertized in that the nozzleis a horizontal slot nozzle.

12. A device according to claim 10, characterized in that the nozzleextends over the width of the chute and is formed by several individualnozzles arranged side by side.

13. A device according to claim 10, characterized in that the air blastfrom said-nozzle is interrupted during the time in which the tubes dropfrom the funnelshaped container into the batching chamber.

1. A device for sorting and packing round-bar-shaped or tubulararticles, such as cigarette tubes or cigarette filter tubes comprising afunnel-shaped container having a downwardly tapering portion whichterminates in a chute having a bottom, side walls and front and rearwalls, the front wall of said chute comprising an ejector and the rearwall of said chute having an ejector orifice, at least one cut-off slidearranged between the container and the chute, to selectively separatethe two, said chute serving as a batching chamber in which a pluralityof articles are arranged and to be transversely ejected, an elgongatedflat belt located at the bottom of the chute and extending at rightangles to the axes of the tubes disposed in said chute and an externaldrive mechanism for reciprocating said belt with respect to the chutealong the longitudinal axis.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein aplurality of cut-off slides is provided with the cut-off slides arrangedin opposing pairs between the container and the chute.
 3. A device asclaimed in claim 1, characterized in that one end of the belt isattached to a frame by means of a tension spring element and the otherend of the belt is connected to a motion imparting device adapted toimpart reciprocating motion to the belt in the longitudinal direction ofthe belt.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that thebelt is elastically extensible, said belt connected at one end of itsends to a frame and at its other end to a device adapted to impartreciprocating motion to the belt in the longitudinal direction thereof.5. A device as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the externaldrive mechansim comprises a mechAnical crank gear and a couplingconnecting said belt and said mechanical crank gear.
 6. A device asclaimed in claim 1 characterized in that the extreme drive mechanismcomprises an electro-magnetic vibrator.
 7. A device as claimed in claim1, characterized in that the width of the belt corresponds approximatelyto the length of a tube.
 8. A device according to claim 1, characterizedin that the width of the belt corresponds to the length of the filter ofa cigarette tube and that the belt is disposed in the region of the tubefilters on the bottom of the chute.
 9. A device according to claim 1,characterzed in that the belt consists of a narrow strip and is arrangedapproximately in the mid-region of the cigarette tubes.
 10. A deviceespecially according to claim 1, characterized in that a nozzle forblowing air onto the tubes ready for ejection is provided above thechute in the region of the tube ends, said nozzle being inclineddownward and extending over the width of the chute.
 11. A device asclaimed in claim 10, characertized in that the nozzle is a horizontalslot nozzle.
 12. A device according to claim 10, characterized in thatthe nozzle extends over the width of the chute and is formed by severalindividual nozzles arranged side by side.
 13. A device according toclaim 10, characterized in that the air blast from said nozzle isinterrupted during the time in which the tubes drop from thefunnel-shaped container into the batching chamber.